


The Story Behind The Grand Canyon

by oakleyfraser4



Series: John Murphy & Emori's Forever [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24346789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oakleyfraser4/pseuds/oakleyfraser4
Summary: "When someone's heart breaks so does a piece of our world...tell me the story behind the Grand Canyon"This was a prompt given to my by my best friend, but ideas are mine!This is just a bit of an angsty, future fanfic!Please leave a review if you liked it! SEASON 7 of The 100 aired Wednesday! I'M SO EXCITED*Warning, there is mention of suicide and loss* Please read under your own discretion
Relationships: Emori/John Murphy (The 100)
Series: John Murphy & Emori's Forever [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760818
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	The Story Behind The Grand Canyon

**Author's Note:**

> Hi reader,
> 
> All I can say is that it's been a long time. And I'm sorry. My life has been a whirlwind. That's all I can say.  
> Now we're in the middle of a Pandemic. Never thought I'd ever be able to write those words!
> 
> Season 7 of The 100 aired Wednesday! Wow, I can't believe it. I've said this probably 100x on my instagram (memoriisendgame) but I'm pretty sure my favourite character (John Murphy) is going to die this season. We'll see if my opinion changes but I highly doubt it. He's on his path to full redemption and he's going to sacrifice himself for the girl he loves (Emori) or his "family" (his friends).
> 
> For now, enjoy this cute little fanfic that I wrote a few months ago. You'll see what it's about :)

Campfire stories were Alexia's favourite.

She loved the cozy feeling that curling up by the blazing fire gave her. The crackling of the flames was the perfect background noise to whatever story her father decided to tell. Tonight, he seems a little more subdued than normal, as he takes his place next to his daughter.

"Father, what's wrong?" Alexia asks, securing her blanket snuggly around herself. There was a chill in the air on this night, although the wind was still. Shadows lurked from every corner that the fire didn't have the bravery to shine in. It created an eerie feeling and Alexia felt unsettled but she knew her father would keep her safe, just like he had done since his wife, Alexia's mother, had passed away. 10 years, it had been. Father never liked to talk about her, and Alexia respected that. Although Alexia had barely been a year old; she didn't remember the same woman her father did. He remembered a girl so broken it took years just to understand why she was the way she was. That same girl helped him become a better person. That same girl broke his heart but in her defense, he deserved it. That girl was his everything, at least until she wasn't.

Alexia didn't remember anything about her mother. She had no recollection of the woman who had captured her father's heart. All she knew was how thinking about her hurt her father greatly. Every year on the anniversary of her death, Alexia would find her beloved father collapsed against a tree. One year he had even gone so far as to jump from the highest tree in the forest. "I was trying to join her," he sobbed to Alexia, who at the time had only been 7. That was a bad year. Since then, Alexia knew never to talk to him about Mother, and he in turn never tried to end his life again.

Father didn't change his expression, as his gaze shifts upwards to meet his daughter's. "Alexia, have I ever told you the story about how the Grand Canyon was created?" He asks.

Alexia shook her head. She had heard a lot of campfire stories over her eleven years of being. Sometimes the extravagant tales overlapped. Sometimes they were the exact same as ones from before. It was rare Alexia was told a story she hadn't heard anything about before. Though tonight seemed to be a night for new things. The Grand Canyon was something Alexia had never seen or been to. But she had seen some spectacular things in the world, thanks to her father's love of travel. So she didn't doubt that this would be a place they might visit next.

Clearing his throat, Father began to speak. "Well there is this old legend that I believe is true. When someone's heart breaks, so does a piece of our world. This creates fissures, valleys and even cracks in the pavement. Such things we've come across on our travels. The Grand Canyon is a large steep-sided canyon that was carved by the Colorado River. The place was what was once Arizona, in America, the country we are in at the moment. All this happened before Praimfaya 1 and 2, yet such a crevice still remains. The radiation never collapsed it. It was too large to break."

Alexia had never heard of such an elaborate tale. But like every other story her father had told, it made her perch on the edge of her log, eager to discover more. "What does this look like?" She asks, leaning closer to her father.

As if he knew she was going to ask this question, he pulls a large square of paper out of his coat pocket. It was something called a postcard, and Alexia had never known they owned one until. Though faded, the picture was still visible. Large cliffs of reddish rock perched high with at least a mile of a drop beneath, to reach the sliver of a stream. "This is the Grand Canyon," her father says, handing her the fragile paper. "Be very careful," he cautions.

Alexia holds the paper like nothing else means more. The amount of detail one small photo can hold amazes her. Even though the card is tiny enough to fit in her hand, she can still imagine how large this dent in the Earth is. "Did someone's heartbreak really create this?" She asks, astonished. Her father just nods, a grim expression still spread over his face.

"Are you ready for the story?" Her father asks. Nodding, Alexia moves to sit in her father's lap. His arms encircle around her and hold her close. "There was once a man with brown hair and piercing dark blue eyes. He was a rough boy, who hadn't had the best upbringing. His dad died trying to save his son from illness, and his mother blamed her son for her husband's death. This boy never knew love after the age of 10. He always chose the aggressive route and felt he could never be fixed."

"This boy sounds so sad!" Alexia exclaims, interrupting her father.

Father nods, lost in his own memories. "Yes, he was. A journey of a lifetime didn't make anything better. It wasn't until everyone he began to know also turned on him, that he felt like his whole world was crumbling. He tried to end things, but when it came to it, he could never pull the trigger." A long pause ensued, and Alexia's father took a moment to swipe at invisible tears. "Who knew his world would find reason in the middle of a desert. A girl who was imperfect but perfect to him. She was everything to him. They fixed each other. Together, nothing could stop them."

Alexia smiles, and leans back against her father. "I want to feel like that one day."

The older man smiles softly to yourself. "I hope so too, one day." He took a deep breath and continues his tale. "Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it feels like it goes by too fast. Other times it drags on like nothing else. For this boy, every minute he spent with his love felt like an eternity and a second all at once. It was magic. Then one day her life was threatened, by someone they thought was a friend. It broke him, to watch her lifeless, as they carried her away. He fell to his knees and begged for her life to be spared. And that's when the first crevice began to split."

Alexia's interest was spiked once again. Somehow her father's tales managed to do this, no matter how emotional they became. "How bad was it, Father?"

Chuckling, her father held Alexia closer. "Oh darling, you couldn't have imagined how terrible it felt. It felt as if the world was closing in and you were standing on the last piece of land. If you moved an inch, you'd crash down alongside everything else. The fall between where the man stood and the bottom of the cliff was more than death.

In the end, the crevice stayed but the man's love was okay. His heart went back to beating normally, but he never forgot the feeling he had felt when it felt like his heart had been divided into millions of pieces. He wouldn't feel such anguish until time ended up being too long. Time made him feel unnecessary in her life. He wanted to give her a way out. While he broke down inside, so did she, but he was too alone to realize. As he lost the girl, his heart crumbled once more."

"Did the canyon expand even more?" Alexia asks, curious.

Her father barely registers the question. "The canyon experienced another plunge into nothingness. Although it was nothing compared to what it would later end up as."

"Did his love die?" Alexia was almost afraid to ask.

"Yes." Her father was now choking on his quiet sobs. "She died and left him with a child so much like her it was crazy. Except they were so different in the same way." Alexia's father's voice cracked, just like the earth had done to create the Grand Canyon. He was full on crying, body shaking, with Alexia still in his lap, trying to understand her father's cries. She wound his fingers with hers, leaving out the two fingers that were fused together. Alexia had been born with her hand deformity, similar to the one her mother had had. Growing up, people they came across thought it was weird, but Alexia's father always made sure Alexia knew it made her special. She had grown a to liking it. That was the only piece of her mother she felt like she had.

"I'm sorry Alexia," her father says, as his sobs calm down and he wipes his eyes. "I'm sorry I never told you about your mother."

"It's okay," Alexia replies, truly meaning it. "Father, when will you tell me about her?"

Her father is surprised by the question. "Alexia, I thought you knew. The stories I've been telling over the years and the story I told tonight aren't just legends. They're true."

Alexia's eyes widen in amazement. This was news. It meant that every story she had been told wasn't just made up. "You mean that girl and boy really went to space, twice? And those kids really tried to hang that boy because they thought he killed someone else?"

Alexia's father nods, grimly. He holds his daughter closer and buries his face in her hair that's so similar to her mother's. She even wore a bandana. "Everything, I promise."

"What about the story you just told me? Did someone's heartbreak really great the Grand Canyon?" Alexia stares at the picture still held carefully in her grasp, then back up to Father, the person she trusts most in the world. Yet she still can't believe this. "Father, are you being honest?"

The man looks out into the flames of the fire and then notices how the bright colours reflect in his daughter's eyes. The same eyes his love had, his one true love. With a heavy sigh, he nods, in answer to his second reason for existing; Alexia Emori Murphy. "Yes, Alexia, every story is true. I should know, I lived them. Your mother and I, we lived them." John's gaze travels up to the bleary night sky, where he knew his love was watching down on him and their daughter. "I love you, Emori," he whispers, as the darkness from the shadows envelops the two on the ground. Yet a star still shines bright, and it will always be in order to guide her family to whatever they choose to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like the short story? Leave a review if you did.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope that you and your family is safe and healthy. Follow my Instagram (memoriisendgame) to see my "The 100" posts throughout the airing of season 7.
> 
> Happy reading!


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